|
Looking to get into one or both of these games? Whats the consensus on whether its advisable to play NWN 1 before 2? I used to own some collection of the first one but lost the discs before getting in to it. Also, would vanilla playthroughs be advised? EDIT: Also whats the cheapest place to pick these up?
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2013 04:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 02:52 |
|
|
The games are basically unrelated. NWN1 has three storylines by Bioware. There's the original campaign, Shadows of Undrentide, and Hordes of the Underdark. The original campaign is pretty lackluster and feels more like Diablo than it does a D&D adventure. The other two are decent though. I think people generally are lukewarm to the NWN2 campaign, but Mask of the Betrayer (the first expansion pack) is supposed to be pretty good. Storm of Zehir (the second expansion pack) is sort of experimental and is like playing, idk, Final Fantasy 1 or Dragon Quest 3. The two are pretty playable in "vanilla," because most of the custom content for the games are player-made adventures and resources (like custom skins, models, etc.) for people who make those adventures. There are some gameplay mods (more of a NWN2 thing) but they're largely optional, because you can't really break away from the D&D rules the way Morrowind mods can try to change things up; you can really only add extra classes or spells that are from different D&D resources or modify the AI or things like that. Gog or Steam will probably both be cheap at this point, although a couple years ago I remember seeing the games in bargain bins all over the place. Anyway, NWN1 has mediocre campaigns by Bioware but has a ton of pretty good amateur campaigns. NWN2 has better campaigns and this thread makes it sound like there are slightly more people who are playing in online servers right now. That's sort of a whole different beast, though, closer to a private MMO server than casual co-op.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2013 05:10
|
|
|
SorcerousHam posted:I think spellcasters get a rod of infinite ray of frost cantrips in the tutorial Just a follow up to this, holy poo poo this rod is amazing. Before I was having to rest every fight to replenish my crappy magic missile, but now I can just zap everyone with my rod of frost and be on my merry way. It does work with boxes aswell which is glorious. Thanks for the tip. Also I accidentally hit Fenthwick with it at the end of the academy, he went apeshit and killed Pavel, then murdered me. Oh old RPGS I have missed you.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2013 12:11
|
|
|
Ossian Studios also made some soft expansions for both games... I only played the NWN1 one (Darkness over Daggerford, I think?) but I remember it being pretty great, and apparently they did an NWN2 one called Mysteries of Westgate. Anyone play either of them? Did they make any more? I also remember hearing that the NWN1 Premium Modules were pretty good, but I only dabbled in Wyvern Crown of Cormyr because it had horses in it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2013 13:31
|
|
|
Fuzz posted:Ossian Studios also made some soft expansions for both games... I only played the NWN1 one (Darkness over Daggerford, I think?) but I remember it being pretty great, and apparently they did an NWN2 one called Mysteries of Westgate. Anyone play either of them? Did they make any more? I also remember hearing that the NWN1 Premium Modules were pretty good, but I only dabbled in Wyvern Crown of Cormyr because it had horses in it. Ossian Studios only made those two modules for the NWN series. MoW was also the only premium module title for NWN2: Even if MoW managed to sell good despite Atara doing their best to chase people away with that DRM nonsense, any potential plans for more premium module titles were thrown out of the window when Hasbro sued Atari (it's actually somewhat of a miracle MoW was released at all).
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2013 14:11
|
|
|
SilkyP posted:Looking to get into one or both of these games? Whats the consensus on whether its advisable to play NWN 1 before 2? I used to own some collection of the first one but lost the discs before getting in to it. Also, would vanilla playthroughs be advised? The only place you can buy Neverwinter Nights these days is on GoG. Steam dropped NWN2 a long time ago. As far as vanilla play through, if you are playing NWN2 you should grab the AI mod and possibly a UI mod at the very least. Consult the OP, it's pretty good in that respect. vvv Neat, I stand corrected. Rascyc fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Nov 5, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2013 17:25
|
|
|
Rascyc posted:The only place you can buy Neverwinter Nights these days is on GoG. Steam dropped NWN2 a long time ago. I actually got my copy of NWN1 and 2 through Green Man Gaming, which I think at the time was cheaper than GoodOldGames. So it is at least available in a few other places.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2013 17:59
|
|
|
Nice to see EfU Goons repping the server. Hello, everyone. To those who continue playing on lesser untermensch servers- embrace the inevitable. It's amongst the most unique NWN settings I've ever encountered (along with Abyss 404 back in the 'day). If you've an appetite for interesting times, come join the fun.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2013 13:38
|
|
|
Do you people play on a nwn 1 or 2 server? i never liked 2 enough to play it online.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2013 14:40
|
|
|
I'm thinking of building an Arcane Archer to take through the original campaign. Half-elf, start with ranger. Is there a recommended stats build that will give me the best edge later in the game? Is there a similar class that is also balanced for melee? Straight ranger? From what I remember of when I played the OC back in... oh... 2007, the dwarf is a really good fighter, I had some girl(s) who were great/passable mages, and there was also a thief girl? So I don't need to be any of those classes? I want a nice balanced party, but I don't want to play as a mage, monk or straight fighter. Something not too micro-managey, preferably. Any tips? Go go go...
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 13:36
|
|
|
BadAstronaut posted:I'm thinking of building an Arcane Archer to take through the original campaign. Half-elf, start with ranger. Is there a recommended stats build that will give me the best edge later in the game? Other than that, if you're building an archer, you want plenty of DEX, but don't neglect STR - if you can find Mighty bows, they let you add some of your STR modifier to your damage. You also might want to consider starting as a fighter or at least taking 4 levels in it at some point for access to Weapon Specialization: Longbow, which will add on two points of damage per hit. Other than that, you just need enough INT or CHA to qualify for wizard or sorcerer for the Arcane Archer requirement.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:02
|
|
|
OK, so I can do it with Fighter and Sorcerer combo... I don't need to be a ranger at all? And is a Fighter's weapon specialisation: longbow better than anything I can get as a Ranger? If so, what actual advantages does a Ranger have over a pure Fighter? EDIT: Do you get tomes etc in this game to increase base stats? Some of my stats are horribly weak, but I would like to have 18 DEX, 16 INT and get my STR up eventually, without having too low a CHA. It's also been about 6 or 7 years since I spent time on this game, and I've just played Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, so I have forgotten a lot about character creation in NWN2. BadAstronaut fucked around with this message at 14:24 on Nov 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:18
|
|
|
BadAstronaut posted:I'm thinking of building an Arcane Archer to take through the original campaign. Half-elf, start with ranger. Is there a recommended stats build that will give me the best edge later in the game? For an AA build: http://nwn2db.com/build/?11771 - Ranger 21, gets Bane of Enemies, which is baller. http://nwn2db.com/build/?125010 - Assassin 8, gets Hide in Plain Sight (The Best Feat In The Game), and 4d6 Sneak dice. Sadly, those sneak dice aren't as useful in late OC/MotB because of tons of crit immune undead and elementals, but if you want something stealthier, it's a good choice. Both campaigns are good at giving you companions that can handle anything you'll need. In the OC, you end up with one of every class by the end (though the Warlock and Cleric come quite late, you'll already have a Druid, Bard, Sorcerer, and Wizard around, so whatever.) In Mask, you get a Wizard (with a Rogue familiar), a Fighter-Cleric, a Spirit Shaman (sort of a Druid with Sorc style casting), and either a Barbarian/Rogue or a straight Fighter. One alternative if you want something a bit more interactive than meleeing and a bit less micromanage than a typical Arcane caster is a blaster-warlock. Queueing up Eldritch Blasts is fairly similar to queueing up bowshots; the class basically plays as an archer, but you get about a dozen spells to play around with for some extra options, including some nice buffs. The downside is that your build options are very limited, as, really, the only thing that benefits a Warlock is more levels of Warlock. (And maybe a single level of Cleric for Divine Shield or Shadowdancer for HIPS.) Also, while trying to look up some crafting stuff just now I found out that thieves-guild.net is gone.  They let the domain expire and everything. RIP to one of the most useful NWN2 sites out there.
Chevy Slyme fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Nov 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:26
|
|
|
BadAstronaut posted:OK, so I can do it with Fighter and Sorcerer combo... I don't need to be a ranger at all? Double postin' to reply to this: No, you don't need Ranger, but if you don't need the feats from Fighter, Ranger will give you better skill access and Favored Enemies, (and eventually, outdoor HiPS and access to Bane of Enemies), the latter of which is a pretty nice damage boost, since you can cherry pick basics like Undead and Elementals and Constructs. (Also, Ranger gives you an Animal Companion which you can trade in for a badass Dinosaur.) There are no tomes, but you'll get +1 to a stat of your choice every 4 levels. In general, it's better to use this point on your best stat, rather than to shore up a dump. If you need to, pump that stat a bit less at creation in order to dump less. It's 'cheaper'. Also, it's fairly easy to get your hands on +8 items for all stats by the end of the OC.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:30
|
|
|
What level are you generally at by the end of the OC, and given the proficiencies of the companions on offer, what's the most fun class to go - I doubt I will play the OC through more than once given I still have MotB and SoZ. Is arcane archer a good one? Is that warlock route you described more interesting? I've never tried one...
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:36
|
|
|
If you skip everything but the main questline, and take the route of least XP, you'll end up probably at or very close to level 19. If you do everything you can, you can hit level 20 in the end dungeon.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:39
|
|
|
You should hit 20 by the end of the OC unless you eat multi class penalties or play an ECL2 race like Drow and skip a bunch of side quests or something. Arcane Archers (or really, bow users in general), are fine. That said, they mostly play the same as melee, where you pick a target and then switch to controlling your casters. There are people here who will tell you that Warlocks are boring because Eldritch Blast is basically not all that different from using a super-powered bow, except that you need to hit the button for every shot. The flip side is that you can queue up 15 shots by smashing the button a lot, and your shots can do crazy poo poo like chain to nearby targets or acid damage or slowing, or whatever else, on demand. Also, because Warlocks aren't very stat dependent, you can build a fairly even spread and do things like have high social skills for the campaign really easily, which I'm quite fond of.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:49
|
|
|
Is 20 as high as it gets in the OC? Is there an xp cap, or just a limit on the amount of xp on offer? Also I've literally never modded this at all and the idea is a little intimidating. Is there anything that absolutely improves the game, or is vanilla just fine for a casual arcane archer/warlock playthrough? Just got home and about to build a character...
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:50
|
|
|
MotB is its own thing and not contiguous with the OC, right? Our is it not like NWN1?
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:50
|
|
|
BadAstronaut posted:Is 20 as high as it gets in the OC? Is there an xp cap, or just a limit on the amount of xp on offer? Vanilla is fine. There are some UI mods that people like, but I'm not fond of them personally. The only other one that I would even *consider* on a first play through is the AI mod, and I find it isn't as useful as some people make it out to be. (But then, I also don't have the problems with the default AI that leave some people here screaming, so YMMV) The others are mostly geared towards changing things up on later playthroughs by adding new classes and feats, or changing around the gameplay to make it harder, or making horrifying "fixes" to the plot to satisfy some weird dudes creepy lesbian fantasies. There is a level 20 cap in the OC. Once you hit 20, you will not earn any more XP. The cap in MotB is raised to 30. Fuzz posted:MotB is its own thing and not contiguous with the OC, right? Our is it not like NWN1? MotB is contiguous with the OC and picks up where the OC left off with the PC you ran through the OC with. You can roll up a fresh PC if you want, but it will start at a lower level, have somewhat lesser gear, and (much more importantly), there will be a bunch of plot references that you won't get. At a minimum, I'd advise reading LT. Danger's OC LP before touching Mask, if you're not going to play it yourself.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:53
|
|
|
CaptainPsyko posted:Also, because Warlocks aren't very stat dependent, you can build a fairly even spread and do things like have high social skills for the campaign really easily, which I'm quite fond of. This sounds cool. Can you fire off a quick stat suggestion and I will run with that, and then read up on the class when I'm going to bed later? Want to dive in now for an hour or so and get through the intro section of the game... EDIT: I really like dialogue and having extensive dialogue options, and don't want to miss out on any quests or conversations or whatever because I didn't have high enough... diplomacy? bluff? what are the best conversation based skills? Do you agree with this, from Gamefaqs? some guy posted:If you want a good analogy with other classes, take the No matter - I think I will go with a warlock to try something very different. BadAstronaut fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Nov 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 14:54
|
|
|
BadAstronaut posted:This sounds cool. Can you fire off a quick stat suggestion and I will run with that, and then read up on the class when I'm going to bed later? Want to dive in now for an hour or so and get through the intro section of the game... I made a long post about Warlocks here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3548991&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=3#post416216704 For stats, something like 10/14/12/16/10/14, adjust for radials as needed. You'll have two points left that you can use to get 12 Str for carrying capacity, or 15 Dex or Cha (you'll want to pump one or the other; probably Cha, but not necessarily). You can also dump 2 points out of Int if you want to for more Str, Dex, or Cha. Another option is to start at level 1 as a Bard for skill points, use a split like this: http://nwn2db.com/build/?154790 and pick up a Cleric level later to get Divine Shield and two free feats. The main thing there is that you need 13 Str to get DS, if you want to go that route. (DS lets you get your +Cha as +AC and is pretty great. One of the best feats in the game.) You want at least one of Diplomacy, Bluff, and Intimidate raised. Diplomacy comes up the most, but Bluff is right behind it. Intimidate is used too. Diplomacy will tend to make you more good/lawful. Bluff will tend to make you more Chaotic. Intimidate will tend to make you more Evil. Also, a note on NWN2DB build links: Most take Spot and/or Listen. For campaign play, you can usually skip these and put the points into Diplomacy/Bluff/Intimidate instead. As a Warlock, I'd recommend mostly Bluff. Keep in mind that you'll have Beguiling Influence available for a constant +6 to all three skills, and a decent +Cha, so you'll be making checks at +10 or so minimum for most of the game anyway. More as you pick up items that boost those skills, and your Charisma as well. Edit: No, I think that guy is an idiot.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 15:06
|
|
|
OK so if I play my warlock with only 8 wisdom, that is not going to gimp me in any way? To really push up my CHA and DEX. How useful is getting this Divine Shield? Will I be missing out big time if I don't do it, and rather just go pure warlock throughout? Or is it totally worth it for those two extra levels in other classes, and I can still hit level 20 as a warlock? Hmm, how does 10 14 10 16 10 16 sound? BadAstronaut fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Nov 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 15:11
|
|
|
BadAstronaut posted:OK so if I play my warlock with only 8 wisdom, that is not going to gimp me in any way? To really push up my CHA and DEX. Sounds fine, though that 14th point in Str. really isn't doing anything for you. I'd dump it and a point out of Dex (or Cha), and put the 2 points into Con for more HP. Remember, you'll get an odd number of +Stat boosts through the game to assign as you please, and all stat boost items are even numbers, so you want all of your stats except for the one you're going to pump to be either even or 13. Personally, I'd go 13/13/12/14/10/16, and put my level 4 point into Dex, and all points thereafter, into either Cha or Dex (one or the other, not splitting from there out). Wisdom is used for 1) Cleric/Druid Spellcasting. You will not do these things, so you don't care. 2) Bonuses to skills you will not use. 3) Will Saves. This is the big one. Thankfully, you can take the Dark One's Own Luck invocation, and stack Charisma and make up for it. Also, Will is a Warlocks strong save anyway, so whatever. As for DS: It's nice, and really, there's very little reason not to do the one level dip, but I wouldn't say it's required. If you feel like waiting till I get home, I can put together a 1-30 build based on whatever stat spread you post here, but for now, I am off to work. The only other thing you should know is that I would recommend against the shadow dancer level you see in a lot of these builds - it's not as big a deal for a campaign lock, and thus, not putting points into Hide or Move Silently, which means you have points for social skills. Personally, on a campaign lock, the skills I would put points into are Bluff, Spellcraft, UMD, and Concentration. Ideally, you'd like to get 8 points into Intimidate and Lore as well to open up Hellfire as an option. I'll post some more builds when i get home from work.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 15:22
|
|
|
Thanks. Bah, I was impatient and ran ahead with the build I pointed out - got those stats, and rushed it a bit. Should I edit/worry about this at all? I literally just completed the tutorial bits so I suppose I could rebuild a new warlock and just skip the tutorial, and take it from there? I'm off to bed now, so I can wake up and look at your recommended warlock build and take it from there tomorrow. Also, how easy is it to transfer saves between PCs? I can probably play an hour or two at work every day on breaks etc, and then a couple hours in the evenings back at home. There's no cloud save, is there?
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 16:15
|
|
|
So I am trying to figure out a way to get NWN2 for my Mac. I've been reading about Wine Wrappers and such. Anyone playing this on the Mac? I can't seem to find the Mac version anywhere.
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 16:41
|
|
|
One thing of note about warlocks, unless it has been patched out using Eldrich Spear allows you to attack from further distance than the enemy AI can detect you from. It does kinda trivialize some parts of the game.BadAstronaut posted:Also, how easy is it to transfer saves between PCs? I can probably play an hour or two at work every day on breaks etc, and then a couple hours in the evenings back at home. There's no cloud save, is there?
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 16:51
|
|
|
Poil posted:One thing of note about warlocks, unless it has been patched out using Eldrich Spear allows you to attack from further distance than the enemy AI can detect you from. It does kinda trivialize some parts of the game. So it's literally just copying and pasting into my docs? Great. I want to use Eldrich Spear but don't want to gimp the game. It might end up creating some temptation to give me an edge in otherwise very difficult battles... As for crafting, I generally find this to be time-consuming tedium and have never been a big fan of it in any games. Will I be missing out on much if I don't craft in NWN2?
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 16:57
|
|
|
I've never seen a game where moving save files wasn't just copy&paste. Excluding mmo's of course. You don't really need the extra range at any point. Pick something that's good all the time instead.  Crafting is a tedium. I could never be bothered to craft anything in the OC and it was still very beatable. If you can live with not-perfect not-the-most-optimal gear you will do fine without it. Poil fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Nov 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2013 17:02
|
|
|
CaptainPsyko posted:I'll post some more builds when i get home from work. If you're still up for it I'd dig to read a suggested Warlock build for: 1. Original Campaign with possibility to take into MotB if I'm not NWN2'd out by then. 2. Maximum conversation options/not denied any dialogue. 3. Chaotic Good (and try to roleplay accordingly). 4. Minimal to zero crafting. 5. The best character and story-driven experience of NWN2's OC.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 03:06
|
|
|
Fakedit: Hahahaha good timing. Both builds I linked will work fine for Chaotic Good and should carry you through MotB and the OC just fine. http://nwn2db.com/build/?166162 - given the starting stat spread you posted, this is what I'd do. It's not very good, but it'll do the job. I assumed you rolled Human, since you didn't specify that or the feats you started with. Not that it matters, since, with those stats, you kind of have too many feats anyway. You can also take Weapon Focus: Ranged Touch Attack instead of something like Great Fortitude if you feel like it. A few notes: Combat Expertise/Improved Combat Expertise are *AMAZING* for you and you want to take both and then always leave them on because of a dumb bug wherein CE/ICE doesn't penalize your Ranged Touch Attack roll (i.e. Eldritch Blast), so it's basically a free +3/+6 AC for the whole game. incredible. It's strictly better than Combat Casting, and honestly, means if you wanted to, you could dump Concentration as a skill and spend the points on Diplomacy or Appraise or something stupid and wouldn't be hurt too much by it. Similarly, Hellfire Warlock is great, because you can find (or craft for yourself) a necklace that grants immunity to Ability Damage, which means that you will never take the Con damage penalty and get a fee +6D6 damage on your Eldritch Blasts and never eat the penalty for it. Similarly, you get an awesome damage shield that hurts anyone that tries to hit you. Also, cool glowing eyes and the ability to summon a demon. Shield Proficiency is in there because you can craft a Mithril Light Shield that has a 0% Arcane Spell Failure penalty, which is basically 6 free points of AC if you +5 Enchant it. As for skills, the reason I put 10 points in Tumble is because every 10 points is worth 1 point of free AC, and there's really no reason not to. If you'd rather put the points in Intimidate or Diplomacy though, you're welcome to. That said, you can get away without putting points into diplomacy and still make a great many checks. If you get a +8 Nymph cloak, and buy the +Diplomacy hat from the vendor (Finch's Fine Chapeau I think it is?), and get your bard to cast Greater Heroism on you and Inspire Competence, you'll be getting something like +25 to Diplomacy checks *without a single skill point invested*. You could put points into it on top of that, but, honestly, there's not a whole lot of reason to, and there's very little that you'll miss out on that a Bluff check couldn't handle, for example. Here's a slightly less mediocre version that rearranges the stats a bit in order to make it worth dipping a Cleric level to grab Divine Shield: http://nwn2db.com/build/?166165 Other benefits of the Cleric Dip: You get Shield Proficiency, Blind Fight, Medium Armor Proficiency, and one other feat for free. You also get a first level Cleric spell or two to cast, which isn't much, but it's not nothin'. You need to burn a pair a few feats to get Power Attack (prereq for DS), Battle Caster (use that Medium Armor without a spell failure penalty), and Divine Shield, but you end up at a net of like +10 AC from going this route. Minimum. You also improve your saving throws a little bit, (well really, more rearrange them). Your to-hit bonus is ever so slightly lower, but save DC's are slightly higher, and you get a small boost to social skills, so that's a wash. Oh, and the Cleric build has another 35 HP, which is nothing to sneeze at. For Cleric domains, you want Darkness (for Blind Fight), and your choice of Luck, Water, or Earth to taste. Luck gives +1 AC and +1 to all saves. Water gives Evasion, which means you take less damage when you make a successful reflex save (and your Reflex saves will be successful often). Earth gives Toughness, which is +30 HP. Pick yer Poison. (It was pointed out to me that Uncanny Dodge, granted by Air, is broken, which I had forgotten.) Edit: Here's one final build option that starts off with a Bard level for more skill points. You can dump Tumble for Diplomacy if you feel like it, but I really like being able to get Tumble 30 personally; starting with the Bard level also gives you Inspire Courage for an easy +1 Attack, some weapon proficiencies, and because of the extra skill points, lets you boost Cha a bit more at the expense of Int. This variant also shows off how you can dump Concentration, and takes the Fey feats mainly to show you an alternate use of some of those mediocre feat slots that I burned on poo poo like Weapon Focus and Toughness in the other builds: http://nwn2db.com/build/?166166 You could also take Able Learner at level one, and free up like 25 skill points to dump into Diplomacy or Concentration or whatever. To be a bit more clear, for a pure Warlock, you have a ton of Feat flexibility. Basically, the only things that are 'mandatory' are: Combat Expertise/Improved Combat Expertise, Improved Critical: Ranged Touch Attack, Blind Fight and Shield Proficiency before level 20. At level 21, you take Eldritch Master, and then every feat thereafter is Epic Eldritch Blast to add another D6. If you're dipping a level of Cleric, you get Blind Fight and Shield Proficiency for free (Darkness Domain), but you need to take Power Attack, Divine Shield, and Battle Caster to use the heavier armor you can now wear, so it costs you a net of one feat. Oh, and it's always better to Luck of Heroes at level one than it is to take one of the filler feats like Weapon Focus or Toughness at a higher level. So plan ahead in that respect. Re: Crafting in general: You can mostly ignore it, especially since you're not playing a melee class. You should probably still craft a total of like... half a dozen items that will be majorly worth it with a minimum of tedium: A Nymph Cloak +8, which you can make by the beginning of Chapter 2 in many cases, and will give you +8 Charisma and which you can basically wear straight through to level 30. A belt of Dexterity +8, for similar reasons. An Amulet of Greater Health, which will make you immune to Con damage from using Hellfire, as well as a variety of other nasty things. (Though I think you can find one of these). And a Mithral Light Shield (which will not penalize your spell casting ), which you can then put a +5 AC enchantment onto. (You might be able to buy one of these - or some other 0 ASF shield as well. I don't remember.) Beyond that, you *can* make some other goodies (better armor is the other big one), but you don't really need to. Especially if you max out Use Magic Device, you can do fun things like wear Monk boots and other class restricted items and need to do very little crafting. If you're interested in doing some other weird race, the Cleric dip is no longer an option, but a Warlock 26 (or 23/Hellfire3)/Blackguard 4 is an option. But then you have to be Evil, which can make Mask much less fulfilling insofar as you have less control over the plot there. If you do insist on playing an Elf or Tiefling or something, there are a few other options as well. There's not a whole lot of reason to go Warlock 30 as you don't get an EBlast die at 30. As far as Invocations go: For Least Invocations, the ones worth using are: Dark One's Own Luck: This gives you your Charisma Bonus as a bonus on Saving Throws. Pretty much awesome for the entire game. Beguiling Influence: +6 to all three social skills. Absolutely *amazing* in mid levels of the OC, and useful even into Mask since it stacks with just about everything and some of the other options fall off in utility Leaps and Bounds: +4 to Dex is pretty great at low levels, but it doesn't stack with items, so once you can get a +4 or greater Dex belt (like, Chapter 2 of the OC), this becomes redundant and you can swap it out. Still a great choice early on because it's literally +2 Attack and +2 AC and +2 Reflex Saves Eldritch Spear: Aforementioned range cheese, but honestly, it's not that great, and definitely can make things boring. I usually pass on it. Entropic Warding: late game, once you've outgrown Leaps and Bounds, this is a great candidate to replace it with. All ranged attacks automatically have a 20% chance to miss you, before your AC even comes into play. This is awesome. Draining Blast: Surprisingly, this works really well on stuff like the Zombies you encounter a lot at low levels and can help you stay alive by kiting poo poo, but honestly, I never felt it was really needed. I prefer to use the Least invocations on 24 hour buffs that I can set and forget, but if this is more your style, that's cool. Lesser invocations are more interesting, and it becomes fairly difficult to choose which to take first of several great options. Only Flee the Scene and Chain are mandatory (IMO), but you have a ton of great options for slot 3: Brimstone Blast or Hellrime Blast: You need to take one of these until you've gained 3 levels in Hellfire Warlock. Once you've done that, I'd switch it out, but neither is by any means bad. Brimstone is a little extra elemental damage on your EB, and Hellrime adds a -dex effect, which is okay against a few enemies, but not really against most of the stuff you'll fight in the OC. Eldritch Chain: This is one half of the combo you will be using basically all the way to the end of the game. It causes your Eldritch Blast to intelligently chain to other enemies near the one you target - and more of them as your level increases. This is amazing, and once you get it, you will basically want to leave it on forever and it is the reason you skip Eldritch Spear. Flee the Scene: Haste. For you and your whole party. This makes you run faster around the map (oh god thank you god), gives your melee buddies an extra attack, and everyone bonuses to hit and to AC. Fan-loving-tastic. The Dead Walk: Summoning Skeletons is fun for the whole family. The others, Dispel, Invisibility, Charm, and Beshadowed Blast are all okay, but I'm not a huge fan. Dispel and Invisibility in particular are outclassed by higher level invocations, so I'd only take them as a stopgap. Greater Invocations are where we get the other half of the Power Combo: Vitriolic Blast: Is amazing. Aside from a handful of Acid immune enemies, once you get this, you should never be using anything other than this + Eledritch Chain. It adds bonus damage to your Blast, and on top of that, it ignores Spell Resistance, which is great, because at high levels, you will encounter a lot of enemies that have that. Devour Magic is the other essential at this level (IMO), as it's a strong dispel. Also, there's a fun combo where you can drop Chilling Tentacles, then use Devour Magic on them to heal yourself. Noxious and Bewitching Blast are meh. Hindering Blast is literally identical to Draining Blast. If you want more debuffs, go for it I guess, but I tend to pass on these. One of either Wall of Perilous Flame or Chilling Tentacles can be nice for setting up a little barrier between you and your foes and can do pretty great damage - particularly Tentacles, which you can stack a bunch of castings on top of each other, and then lure enemies into walking through them where they take a ton of damage and probably get slowed. Tenacious Plague is a cool thing to cast if you like invisibility because it doesn't break it. Eldritch Cone is kind of a waste of time compared to Chain or Doom. It's okay I guess, but I always find cone targeting finicky and not worth the effort. As for Dark Invocations, it's largely up to taste: Retributive Invisibility is really strong for obvious reasons, but to be honest, I don't use it to sneak around much because I tend to find sneaking around to be cumbersome because it inevitably means leaving the party behind. But using it before starting a fight means you get the jump, and better yet, you get 50% concealment whenever you break invis, which means all attacks have a 50% chance to miss you before your AC even comes into play. This rules. Dark Foresight , by contrast, is amazing and should probably be your first Dark Invocation pick. It's a huge amount of damage reduction, and along with Flee the Scene, is the other buff you'll want to recast a lot (the least invocation buffs, by contrast, last from when you cast them until you rest, so they are basically set and forget). Between this and all the AC buffs you have access to, you're basically invulnerable to most physical attacks at this point. Utterdark Blast is interesting, but IMO, the campaign has too many undead to take it. Binding Blast is an okay Stun, but personally, I prefer bypassing SR with vitriolic. Eldritch Doom can be a fun way to open combat with groups of enemies, since it basically turns your blast into a fireball, but overall, Chain is better. If you have a free slot, you could do worse. Word of Changing turns you into a (literal) melee monster. It can be fun. There are whole builds built around this spell. Personally, if I had to pick a spell list, it'd be, in order taken: Leaps and Bounds, Beguiling Influence, Dark One's Own Luck; swap Leaps and Bounds for Entropic Warding at a higher level Eldritch Chain, Brimstone Blast, Flee the Scene; swap Brimstone Blast for The Dead Walk after Hellfire Warlock 3 Vitriolic Blast, Devour Magic, Chilling Tentacles Dark Foresight, Retributive Invisibility, Word of Changing. (Bolded items indicate the ones I feel are essential. The rest is largely up to you. Oh hey, Annakie, given that you have my other very long Warlock post linked in the OP, you might as well link this one as well for the spell rundown I guess. I really like Warlocks for some reason. Chevy Slyme fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Nov 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 03:17
|
|
|
CaptainPsyko posted:Oh hey, Annakie, given that you have my other very long Warlock post linked in the OP, you might as well link this one as well for the spell rundown I guess. I really like Warlocks for some reason. Done!
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 04:17
|
|
|
CaptainPsyko, please could you put a bit more effort into your posts, tia EDIT: So, if I restart with a new character build with better spread stats (including some 13s), I can just skip the tutorial and go straight to the attack on the village, and I can walk my character through a few levels? Will I get the harvest cup for that sweet, sweet healing twice a day? Or is there a character editor so I can quickly switch up some stats and just play on? BadAstronaut fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Nov 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 04:47
|
|
|
Akion posted:So I am trying to figure out a way to get NWN2 for my Mac. I've been reading about Wine Wrappers and such. The Mac version is no longer commercially available since it got pulled from the Mac App Store. This Sucks. If you'd like to play it natively on OS X, it's still possible, but you're going to have to jump through a few hoops. Step one is to get your hands on a copy of the Mac version of the base game, which will probably have to be in the form of a used disc; they're on Amazon for 17 bucks at the moment: http://www.amazon.com/Neverwinter-Nights-2-Mac/dp/B000UGNLGY Then, if you want the expansions (and you do), you'll need to get those for Windows. The easiest way to do this is to buy NWN2 Complete from GOG: http://www.gog.com/game/neverwinter_nights_2_complete - if you wait for a sale, it can go as low as 5 bucks. Then, from a Windows PC, whether a boot camp partition, or another PC, you'll need to install the windows version with all expansions, and copy a bunch of files, and move them over to OS X. You can also use a WINEskin install under OS X for this if you want. You can use this http://portingteam.com/topic/7031-mac-app-store-neverwinter-nights-2-expansions-installation-script/ script to automagically copy all of the files for you if you want. I have no experience with it however. To do it manually, you can follow the instructions here: http://bbellina.blogspot.com/2011/11/getting-nwn2-expansions-working-on-mac.html Sorry you missed out on the awesome NWN2 for a dollar on the Mac App Store days. BadAstronaut posted:CaptainPsyko, please could you put a bit more effort into your posts, tia You can skip the tutorial, but you'll lose out on the XP and won't get to start at or near level 2. Also, no Harvest Cup or Harvest Cloak for you. The tutorial takes like 5 minutes if you know what you're doing, just blast through it. You can edit things with the DM console, but it tends to get flaky about changing level one. Would Not Recommend. I could put more effort in, but then I'd never hit the post button. Chevy Slyme fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Nov 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 04:59
|
|
|
Heh, OK cool. So you think that in the long run it is better for me to change from 14/14/10/14/10/16 to 13/13/12/14/10/16 by starting over and replaying the tutorial bits - it will be better for my Warlock further down the line?
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 06:00
|
|
|
Never underestimate 30 extra HP from 2 points of Con. Hell, I'd even dump Wis down from 10 to 8 and put another two points into Con, but I can understand why you'd be reluctant to do that. (And I'd suggest restarting, if only because the best of the three builds I linked takes Bard at level 1 for skill points (You could also do Rogue instead. Six of one, half a dozen of another really) and because I don't know what you did with your level 1 feats or skill points, but if you got those wrong it's actually really hard to fix over time.) Chevy Slyme fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Nov 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 06:04
|
|
|
OK, I'll be restarting. How many hours is a decent playthrough, doing a large number of the sidequests and maximising what I do with my companions? Like, the dwarf... getting him to be a monk? I could never figure that out six years ago. I remember I hit a chapter where the main game just slowed down and there were a ton of interesting sidequests to go on.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 07:10
|
|
|
(Updated the build that starts with a Bard level slightly. Due to a quirk of ability progression, there's no good reason not to take a second level of Bard at some point, which gets you +1 AB, +1 to some saves, Inspire Competence for +1 to all skills, and frees up like 16 skill points if you do clever things with Tumble.)
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 16:27
|
|
|
CaptainPsyko posted:You can skip the tutorial, but you'll lose out on the XP and won't get to start at or near level 2. Also, no Harvest Cup or Harvest Cloak for you. The tutorial takes like 5 minutes if you know what you're doing, just blast through it. You can also just disable the stupid tutorial pop-ups while doing the tutorial. Makes it seem more like a game than the awful tutorial. Can someone remind me if appraise is worth it in the NWN2 OC with the gold dump? I seem to remember somehow running out of money the last time I went through OC and I'd rather that not happen again.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 16:42
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 02:52 |
|
|
Rascyc posted:Can someone remind me if appraise is worth it in the NWN2 OC with the gold dump? I seem to remember somehow running out of money the last time I went through OC and I'd rather that not happen again. Putting like... 5 points in can get you a few extra dialog options in the crossroads keep events, but for the most part, no, it's not worth it. You should abuse Sand/the elemental merchant and such though. Avoid selling anything until you get to Neverwinter if your encumbrance can handle it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2013 16:51
|
|